11 Online Places To Learn WordPress Inside And Out (Paid And Free Options)

WordPress is running over 17% of the Internet nowadays (and that number keeps growing). It’s being listed as a job skill on job boards. It’s what the technical and non-technical alike are using to build websites. Simple date-based blogs to full-fledged e-commerce solutions and news agency sites are being built with this same core functionality.

So it’s time we learned about this open source software, and time to learn where we can do that learning!

The great thing is that some sources for learning WordPress are free! Better quality, more structured training may come at a small price, but when you think of how well you’d be able to sell yourself on the job market after learning WordPress professionally, they are totally worth the pocket change.

Another great thing is that different resources can apply to different learning levels. Whether you want to learn WordPress from scratch, or learn the latest techniques to grow your development skills with WordPress, the Internet is a great place to do that.

This is a super professional way to learn WordPress and is feature rich. Not only are the training videos quality-made, they also come with course files, FAQ abilities, and transcripts, to allow for different learning styles (in case you like reading better than watching a video).

Some videos feature a very fast talking, which are harder to follow, but the more frequently authored ones are by Morten Rand-Hendriksen who takes a very step-by-step and easy-to-understand approach to teaching WordPress. He’ll even use his Legos to help you understand the concept of child themes, if it comes down to it.

But Lynda is not just for learning WordPress, and this is an important point. If you want to get really good at WordPress, you also need to know about other coding fundamentals. Heck, you even need to know how to be a good writer or business owner to make a living from WordPress. Lynda has training on all of that. Here is how Morten describes it:

Lynda.com is a full-breadth training library and resource for web design, development, graphic design, professional skills, management, and beyond. WordPress is one of a large number of sub-segments that are covered in the library and all the different segments within the library are tightly knit together. To fully understand and master WordPress you need skills in everything from core languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP) to UX design, content management, project management, server infrastructure, and beyond. The lynda.com library covers all this and more, all presented by industry leading professionals. We are not geared towards one specific group but rather have options for anyone whether they are starting from scratch, come at the topic from a design or development perspective to solve a specific problem, or want to become a professional designer, developer, or both.

What differentiates our WordPress training is that that we have a far broader range and depth of WordPress courses – and the supporting courses that help them truly be successful as WordPress professionals – than our competition. Unlike many other WordPress training options, we cover all of the market segments … (beginner, intermediate, advanced, designer, developer, manager, etc). We provide a holistic learning experience that supports everyone from the web designer looking to design beautiful WordPress sites, the web developer looking to build apps on top of the WP core, the business or editorial manager who needs to simply have control over the content they publish, and everyone in-between those personas.

Another high quality and professional option for learning WordPress along with other coding essentials, this site formalizes training by offering videos, transcriptions (broken down by the second), project files and forum boards. To help complete the learning cycle, there are also quizzes to take. They have a “Workspace” that you can use to start coding and launching websites within their system. In addition to their browser-based site and iPad app, they also allow you to download their videos using iTunes.

There are two amazing things about training with Treehouse:

Their user interface is very well designed and super easy to navigate and use – you won’t get lost, wonder where you are or what the purpose of each page is for. This is essential for a learning environment.

Their WordPress presenter, Zac Gordon, is slow-paced (in a good way), gradual and extremely clear when teaching. The progress and logic makes sense and you can easily follow along. You can both absorb what you’re watching on the screen and what you’re listening to with the vocal instructions.

Treehouse is ‘5 star’ quality WordPress training and caters to both beginners and advanced users.

As their name says, this is for beginners; like, absolute beginners. If you are a developer, this is the site you would send your clients to so they know how to use the site you just built them. If you have never been exposed to WordPress and are trying to learn how to set things up on your own as a DIY user, this is a good starting point.

The great thing is that it’s a free resource with several types of content – written articles, videos, guides, a useful glossary; the whole gambit. They’re also very open about what they use to run their own site, many of which are freely available or well-known plugins. They’ve also got a newsletter to send you multiple types of content, including coupons.

The only catch to getting into their video area is that you have to sign up with your e-mail address. Not a difficult sacrifice to make when you consider the quality of free training you’ll get in return.

There are no extended materials beyond the videos in the members-only area. This means no transcripts or formal teaching materials. Just straight up video content.

This is an option for those who want to build their own website and have never done anything like this before. It can also be good for those who are not technical and want to be able to manage their own site that a developer made for them. However, it also has some very basic-level tutorials that you could get for free through some of our other mentioned resources.

Beginner-level topics include things like “Using Screen Options” and “How to Use WordPress Widgets.”

On the flip side, the course offerings also include some more intermediate-level courses such as the “WordPress Theme Mechanics Webinar,” which helps you understand the inner workings of a WordPress theme.

The presenter is very calm and speaks slowly, which makes it a great option for those who really need a lot of hand holding, or want to take notes as the video is playing. Here is how Kirk, the owner, explains WP Apprentice’s differentiation in the WordPress learning market:

The first iteration of my course was actually designed for my clients. These are non-technical business people who need to get up to speed quickly. After a time I realized that more people could benefit from this sort of training. Most of the other WordPress training sites out there seem to assume some level of web design/development experience.

I sometimes feel like those other courses are created by developers for other developers. That’s definitely not the case with my training. I work on the assumption that my members have almost no experience creating websites. It’s actually something of a challenge and I find myself constantly refining the course to make various web concepts more clear to the web novice. As an example, last year I added a web basics module to the course when I realized that members were struggling with basic concepts like FTP and DNS. I continue to expand the training based on member feedback.

As for the individual lessons, I try to add some depth to the training by explaining the hows and whys. It’s really not enough to give a novice a list of steps that they need to go through without providing some background along the way. I also try to anticipate common pitfalls that trip up new WordPress users.

These are easy-to-understand, medium-paced videos on the fundamentals of WordPress. This is another resource a developer could use to send their clients to, much like WP Beginner (in fact, they’ve got white label options and a plugin available for developers who want to use their videos for their clients).

This is not where you would go to learn how to develop WordPress sites. The “Intermediate” videos, for example, explain what RSS is and how to understand permalinks. It’s a great resource for bloggers and content creators who want to switch to using WordPress, or who have just begun using WordPress as a website for showcasing their work.

The site itself also has a Q&A Forum available for paying members, which may come in handy for more learning.

This is where all the talks from the amazing WordCamps are posted. The great thing about WordPress.tv is that even if you didn’t get to attend all the live talks you wanted to see at a WordCamp (since they overlap during conference schedules or are too far to get to), you can reference them here later. The only downside is that the event videos are slow to make it on to this site after they’ve happened. So you’d still be better off attending WordCamp anyway (and make new friends while you’re at it!).

This extensive training library is brought to you by the same company behind iThemes, which develops products like BackupBuddy, Exchange and many other plugins and themes. The topics covered are vast and suitable for advanced or intermediate WordPress users. It’s great for designers or developers who want to brush up their skills or start selling web development services as freelancers.

Their WordPress training courses are a little different than others in this list, in that they are presented as live sessions that include chat and interactivity between the listeners and the presenter.

That being said, the recorded versions can be cumbersome to watch only because the presenter takes the time to answer questions and deal with technical issues during the webinar, which may not be applicable after the event is over. However, the live web-based events are excellent and informative, especially considering they are given in a group setting to people of various learning levels. The teaching is clear and sequenced.

Do note that their webinar schedule can be taken up by sessions that show you how to use their iThemes’ products. It’s not the only thing they teach, so be sure to check out their upcoming schedule and the library of past videos to see if they’ve got topics that would interest you.

When I first saw this site, I thought, ‘this is so cool!’ The name was very fitting for the content it provided. Then when I saw what was in the members-only video library I thought, ‘WOW!’

The instruction is very high quality, very sequenced and very easy to follow. The best part? A 20-video set starts at just $1 for a six-month subscription. Yes, just $1. The second-best part? It’s not just WordPress training – the advanced library (which costs more) includes training on basic SEO and MailChimp as well. Essentially, you get the fundamentals for setting up a new site and marketing it well.

MaAnna is the host on all these videos, and also offers live training or pay-as-you-go sessions to help you get your site going. This is the perfect solution for business owners who want to make their own websites and need the helping hand of an expert along the way at an extremely reasonable price.

The thing I love about the videos is that MaAnna doesn’t forget to explain the little nuances that create question marks inside our heads when we first start using WordPress and some of its popular plugins (like what each little TinyMCE editing button does, or why hitting “enter” on our keyboard in Text mode doesn’t create an extra space between lines on the ‘front’ end of our site). Every little thing on the screen that she’s working with is explained. But it doesn’t drag out or get exhausting. There are no “uuuuummms” and “aaannnds” that make the videos boring. They are well paced, well prepared and well delivered.

Here is how MaAnna describes her courses:

What makes this library unique is that my videos are super easy to see, hear, and understand. I set a high standard for quality content and production.

My teaching style is very focused and explains everything to a non-geek audience. The library also has depth to help new site owners advance through their learning, and to help experienced site owners harness the full power of WordPress. The library is kept up to date, and I keep the format consistent.

Bob Dunn is a WordPress consultant and avid blogger who recently started his own training site with videos and written tutorials. He is very calm when teaching and takes his time to explain things so you can follow along and take notes. These aren’t formalized training sessions with sequenced modules and quizzes, but rather a casual way to get started with WordPress by being able to watch a video on something you need to learn on a whim. For example, learning how to use a plugin or particular theme, or finding out what would happen if you changed your theme.

This type of training is geared towards the DIY WordPress user who wants to learn how to set up a website quickly and easily. With that said, most of his examples and tutorials cover either Genesis or WooThemes. If you’re having trouble setting up a site using either of those frameworks, you’ll probably get some valuable help from BobWP training.

Udemy is a platform that delivers training on all sorts of subjects, and WordPress is a big topic being taught there. Like Lynda.com, you can learn a variety of topics in one place. But it would be far fetched to say that Udemy is similar to Lynda’s courses. Here anybody can host a course on pretty much anything, while using the interface and tools that Udemy provides, which are excellent. The user interface and intuitiveness behind Udemy makes it easy to navigate through course material, take notes, have discussions, see your course progress and of course, watch videos. Udemy also has apps that work well on mobile phones and tablets, which increases the accessibility of course content.

Each course is run by an independent author. The caveats with these ‘open’ platforms for delivering course content is that there is virtually no quality control apart from the ratings that learners give to each course. So you might win with some, or you might lose, but either way, you can try out a few to get your feet wet, until you find a presenter that suits your style.

This is a new(er) place to learn about niche topics related to WordPress, much like WordPress.tv. Instead of being structured courses or tutorials, the presentation style of the videos is more like the specialized talks given at WordCamp gatherings (designed that way on purpose). The next one coming up, for example, is about building a membership site.

These are not targeted at beginner-level students, and some of them delve deep into plugin development and coding tactics that require you to have a previous background in WordPress to be able to catch on.

The sessions are given by WordPress experts over Google Hangout. The owner, Brian, hosts multiple experts in a session, each of which takes a turn speaking about a sub topic. For the time being, some of the sessions are paid, while a few are free. The idea is that eventually they will all be free.

To Conclude: there’s more than one way to learn WordPress!

The great thing with this list is that not all the options will cost you, especially if you are brand new to WordPress. There are multiple places to learn WordPress and you can sample them all until you find the one with the teaching style and method that works well for you.

None of these training sites will replace the school of trial and error, however, which is often the best way to learn. You’ll need to practice, practice, and practice more! Sometimes the struggle of trying to apply what you’ve learned is the best way to get good at something. So even if you’re undecided on a training resource right now, try playing with WordPress, seeing what you can catch with your own wit alone, and then finding a training program that suits your learning level.

By Joyce Grace

Joyce is an internet marketer based out of Vancouver who combines her passion for journalism with her education in communication. She has years of experience both using and making WordPress websites. She is obsessed with all things Dutch and is also probably the only person on the planet who doesn't like cheesecake.

66 Comments

Bob Schecter
March 18, 2014

Excellent resources Joyce. +1 for both MaAnna and Bob who understand where a beginner is coming from and have a knack for speaking on those terms.

Loads of good resources there.
I can recommend Lynda as I have been using it recently. Also Udemy often has offers and sales on, I recently bought a coders bundle through cult of mac deals for what worked out at £5 for (I think) 7 courses.
Also, when you buy from Udemy, you have those courses for life, unlike lynda where you need an ongoing subscription.

But I have to say, you have overlooked the forum and blog here at Elegant Themes,
I have learnt so much from reading through the support forums here. There are true genius people on this site and working for ET.
Some of the quick CSS tricks posted on the blog really get the imagination going about what is possible.

Hi Ed, I didn’t mean to overlook things 🙂 That’s why I put a specific number in the title, saying I’ve only got “11” – you can see I tried to stick to video courses that are more structured. There are so many blogs and google-able resource online yes, and that’s also how learned. Sometimes though I find that I could save a lot of time by just going with something more structured 🙂

Once again I am impressed by this blog’s content, I am definately keeping this info handy. Can you recommend any developer companies that do both coding and training on how to customize Elegant Themes?

Nick Roach
March 19, 2014

I don’t have any companies to recommend for Elegant Themes specifically, but there are a lot of great places online to find freelance developers. You might check out Microlancer, which is a new freelancer community with a focus on WordPress.

Yes I also realized as I was researching this, that there are already so many resources, I probably don’t need to do manual training with my clients – I could just send them to these sites where the wheel has already been invented 🙂

Thanks Ruth. I didn’t forget them. I knew they existed. I was going for something more structured and admittedly there are so many resource for learning WordPress, so I specified in the title that this list only has 11 of those options.

We have WordPress video tutorials as well (all free of charge to access). We also take requests to help out as many as we can facilitate.

If anyone needs help with something WordPress related (Including several popular plugins – and all Elegant Themes products) we will be happy to take your requests (again….all free of charge to create and access).

Would LOVE to see a series of tutorials on building webpages with DIVI. Not how to build “Cheesy” looking websites which so many of these listed above teach…how to build “real world” nice looking webpages. Maybe take a site like Nike or Adidas, deconstruct it and reconstruct it using DIVI and WordPress!

Hi Robbie, I don’t think any of the above listed resources teach you how to make ‘cheesy’ websites. They teach you the fundamentals that you need to then go out and make your own site. If your site turns out cheesy after you’ve started implementing the techniques you’ve learned, that would be due to your own efforts 🙂 But I do think it would be nice to have more tutorials of DIVI, or a showcase of how far you can take it.

Dan
March 19, 2014

We’re actually about to release a series of in-depth wordpress tutorials covering absolute beginners to more advanced tutorials (how to create a real estate listing site, how to create a job board, stuff like that) – as well as comprehensive tutorials on working with Divi and brief tutorials on customizing the previous themes.

They’ll all be free to watch and use, I can send you links once they’ve been released for anyone who is interested. Don’t want to spam anything on here.

qtcc
March 20, 2014

Please add in your list – how to design a directory listing site for community advertisers/subscribers including an added membership area.

Rick
May 24, 2014

Hi Dan,

I could really use this type of training. How do get on your list and when will it be released? Thanks.

Rick
May 24, 2014

Sorry, meant “how do I”…

Redolph
March 18, 2014

Very good article Joyce :). But I want to learn how to create WordPress theme. I mean if I have create HTML, .PHP or PSD file then how can I convert it in to WordPress?

Joyce, My comment is really a question. I live in Newport News, Va and have a business wp website address above, I have been diligently tried to find a designer to fix my website.
Only to find that they want a huge amount of money with no guarantees about the website and what would be done with it. It is very frustrating to say the least…price ranges have been from $100.00 per hours to $7,000.00. Do you know of anyone in my area that knows wp and would like some work at a realistic price? If you respond to my question, I have included my e-mail address above.
Thank you for your time. D @ palmsntreasures.com

Joyce, thank you so much for including my site in this stellar list. Of WordPress training resources. Much appreciated.

kalyan
March 19, 2014

very nice and informative article Joyce. As in the concluding part you mentioned.. there are other resources but nothing can replace the school of trial and error method.. So, just on a lighter note, I would also say.. it’s sometimes better to learn yourself… Install LAMP/WAMP/XAMPP, install WP, take to Google, Youtube, StackFlow, WP forums ( and so) and try yourself until you think you fully know WP.(All are absolutely free).

Also, not to mention Elegant Themes Support also.. this is also a massive way to learn certain tweaks of WP..

By the way, a wonderful article in the end.. Will surely deep into this.

Here here on the value of this blog! I was just thinking about the incredible extra value of buying an elegant themes membership was that I got introduced to this blog. Of course was always free but being a member I subscribed and am so glad I did.

What I’ve found is that once you reach a more advanced level you are pretty much on your own. I just changed the set up of my site to Genesis and now I’m using Dynamik to finetune the look and feel. Obviously, I’m looking to Genesis and Cobalt App (Dynamik) to answer my questions with their FAQs, knowledgebase and videos, but some of the issues aren’t addressed directly so it’s either hunting for the solutions in various blogs or by trial and error and learning on your own.

Thanks a lot for that great list. I’ve been actually looking for some free resources just to start with the learning, but the paid options are looking good as well, so I guess I should consider them too.

Gunnar
March 20, 2014

That’s a great list to learn WP.
I have found a website with lots of free contenthttp://77webstudio.com/
There’s a lot of videos on Yoytube as well from the same author.
it’s worth looking at.

I’ve used alot of these tutorials and they are all great. There are some sites offering live WordPress help for those who get stuck or have custom templates, post types etc. http://www.wp-tutoring.com offers live online training for customers as well who may just need a little help and can’t find it in tutorials, or videos.

Thank you for this great list. We have used many of these resources like Lynda.com when putting together our Live Classes. If you are interested in Interactive Training Classes taught by myself, please click on my name above.

Again, great job on the list. There are a lot of great free and low cost resources out there to learn WordPress.

Angus
October 28, 2014

Thank you. Starting my WordPress journey and some things just dont seem intuitive so figured I should do some training. Options are seemingly endless 🙁

Really appreciate this article. One thing I wanted to respond to: despite its name, I don’t find WPBeginner to be for “absolute beginners”. There may be some lessons at that level, but I find that the majority are geared towards beginner *developers*, with a lot of coding. It’s an excellent site, but I’m not sure why they use that name!

Julia
December 3, 2014

I’m a web designer who learned her craft from hand-coding HTML pages on a text editor. WordPress is probably THE most frustrating thing for me since I can’t customize most of the things that I want to.

I’m now having to work on my second WordPress site, both of which were designed by someone else, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do the SIMPLEST things (how do I add a Social Media bar, like the one on the left of this page, for example).

Almost every one of the sites you listed are paid sites. I don’t want to have to pay to use what everyone touted as an “easy” way to create a web site. Are there *really* any free learning sites other than YouTube??

And are there any sites that are for those of us who code and/or use Dreamweaver in our daily lives, and just need to tweak customer websites every once in a while?

Sorry for the semi-rant — nay, it’s pretty much a total rant — but I just got my third RFS for website maintenance and it’s, yes, yet another WordPress-developed site…

Steven
December 17, 2014

This looks like a really nice tool – thank you – I would love some people’s opinions.

I’ve just recently signed up to iThemes Training and I just can’t get my head around it, there feels like there isn’t any structure to the training – just a big bulk of videos, where I have to search for what I want to learn, but with little experience I don’t know what I am searching for.

I’m a bit of a beginner to the whole website building world and I want to find a course that offers me a structured step by step break down, so I can get from the beginning to the end in terms of building a website.

Thank you for this site and everyone’s comments! I am new to the WordPress world and was looking for some feedback/reviews on good online courses. This article gave me some great resources to start with. I am excited to get started

Joyce, My comment is really a question. I live in Newport News, Va and have a business wp website address above, I have been diligently tried to find a designer to fix my website.
Only to find that they want a huge amount of money with no guarantees about the website and what would be done with it. It is very frustrating to say the least…price ranges have been from $100.00 per hours to $7,000.00. Do you know of anyone in my area that knows wp and would like some work at a realistic price? If you respond to my question, I have included my e-mail address above.

Thank you for this good list. There is one exceptional good resource that is not in this list and that I want to mention. That is the Genesis Club Apprentice course http://www.genesislcub.training. It is a paid course, at a low investment level and generating a massive return on that small investment.

I started my WordPress journey 18 months ago with a very basic knowledge of html, none at all of WordPress, CSS and minimal skills in Photoshop. So I may have been an experienced branding and marketing communication strategist but I was a real WordPress website beginner!

Today I regularly build websites for some of my marketing strategy clients to deliver the online communication their brands deserve. That has only been possible because of the amazing teaching by Elizabeth Jamieson (and Russell Jamieson’s awesome plugins Genesis Club Lite and Genesis Club Pro).

That is the kind of journey that is now possible with the Genesis Club Apprentice course where Elizabeth Jamieson is now bringing together everything you need to know progressively. It allows you to build a solid understanding of how to buy a domain name, the right hosting, and how to put together a WordPress site that works for you 100%, functionally and emotionally.

Not only does it include brilliant step by step “how to” videos, it explains the why and the implications of options. It takes away any fear and frustration you may have felt about creating a website. As a marketing specialist, I value the marketing thinking that Liz imparts throughout. The course addresses far more than WordPress and functionality.

As far as I am concerned this is the best value course there can be and I recommend it to anyone who is serious about setting up their website well, right from the start and for the long term.

The Genesis Club Apprentice course puts you in a position of confidence and power to decide, create, and drive results. It is not aiming to turn you into a professional developer if that is not your intent, it empowers you to achieve what you want and to stand out from the crowd.

It also gives you access to a very supportive community. Quite frankly it is “addictive” and many members are gaining so much confidence that they starting to go beyond what they thought they would ever do. From a “one-website” builder they are becoming multi-sites builders, affiliate marketers… An impressive transformation they never imagined at the start (me included). And they continue to get outstanding value from every additional course module published.

Note: I am not paid to write this, I am totally independent and a very enthusiastic “Genesis Clubber” .

It’s funny – I’ve read a ton of posts that cover the hows and whys of learning design and development, but not many (or none) of those posts talk about finding the area of design or development that fit a person’s personality type. I’ve been learning for quite a while now and I have to say, I’ve switched tracks a number of times. One day it’s Javascript because of its depth and the next day it’s WordPress because of the size of the community. I bounce back and forth – it can get maddening. If I could offer one piece of advice to someone who may have an interest in this field, it would be to cover a broad range of areas and narrow the range down as time passes. Don’t fight it. The area you enjoy the most is the area you’ll be the best at.

You’re missing out on some extra $$$ by not having an in depth divi training course. People are willing to pay for that, and since its your product, who better to learn from? I’m sure there will be a Udemy course on this sooner or later.

Martin Ziegert
July 4, 2015

Hi, this is certainly a nice and a great research for resources to learn WordPress but you know what concerns me? They all extreme long, what I mean is, you can get the basics off WordPress in 10 – 15 minutes, like here for instance http://jb-webs.com/wordpress/ They come directly to the point, show you where you find the things and how that works. The crucial thing for me by this is, shorter is not only faster, it is also much easier, because there is less noise and therefore less distraction, what you think?

Jay
July 10, 2015

Hey Joyce, I was curious if you (or anyone) had a good resource (paid or free) for truly understanding how to properly dev a site and then take it live, with all the potential pitfalls of hosting settings, etc. Any ideas? Much appreciated!